Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween! HSP
is definitely getting into the spirit of the holiday! Today all the staff
members dressed up in fun costumes to celebrate.

Now that it’s Halloween, Christmas
season is just around the corner. Here at HSP,
we have all focused on preparing for this year’s Christmas Offering. In the
Christmas Offering, HSP gives toys, games,
and books as Christmas gifts to over 1600 children. All the children in the
Children’s Birthday Project and their siblings ages 3-15 are included in the
Christmas Offering, and we also include as many children on our waitlist as we
can. HSP gives 3-4 weeks worth of groceries
to 150 needy families in December through the Christmas Offering as well.

HSP
is in need of food and toy drives to help us provide for the families we serve.
We are also looking for volunteers to help us prepare for the Christmas
Offering during the first three weeks of December. If you are interested in
helping us serve families in need by hosting a food or toy drive for the
Christmas Offering, or by volunteering with us, please send us an email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org
or call us at 630-221-8340.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Today, we are taking the time to highlight a few of our regular
volunteers who graciously donate their personal time and energy to help us with
our Senior Citizen Project. Without
further ado, we would like to introduce you to three of our wonderful
volunteers!

Every
Wednesday morning, you can find Judi Simon and Bernie Bartelli (pictured right)
in HSP’s warehouse, sorting food or doing a variety of other preparatory tasks
to make sure the Senior Citizen Project runs smoothly. Judi and Bernie have been invaluable
volunteers, allowing us to ensure that all of the seniors enrolled in the
project are supplied with food and any other items they need.

Another person whose efforts do
not go unnoticed around HSP is Ginna Ericksen, our volunteer Secret Pal
Coordinator (pictured left). Every
senior enrolled in the Senior Citizen Project gets matched up with a Secret Pal,
or a volunteer donor, who purchases items from the senior’s wishlist. Ginna organizes all of the Secret Pal gifts
each month, ensuring that the right gifts go to the right seniors come Delivery
Day.

With
our busiest season of Christmas fast approaching, the volunteers mentioned here
have been selfless with their time, and all have lent a helping hand. For Judi, Bernie, and Ginna, we here at HSP
are truly grateful. There is also some
extra appreciation due to Ginna, who has taken on a lot of extra work by
assisting HSP staff to organize the senior giving trees for our Christmas Offering.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Today one of our volunteers, Jeff Marker, delivered 21
birthday boxes to needy children with birthdays during the months of November
and December at LakeParkElementary
School. These birthday boxes from the Children’s
Birthday Project are filled with gifts, school supplies and party supplies to
make a child’s birthday a special day to cherish. HSP has been delivering
birthday boxes to the needy children at LakeParkElementary School for about a year and a
half now, and hopes to maintain this relationship by continuing to provide this
service to them.

Jeff did not return empty handed from this trip back
to HSP. The staff and students at LakeParkElementary
School very graciously held a food drive to
donate items to us. Through this food drive, spearheaded by music teacher Elise
Willis, they were able to gather 5 BOXES of nonperishable items to help the
needy seniors and families throughout the community! HSP would like to thank
Lake Park Elementary for this wonderful donation that will benefit many
families and seniors for our Christmas Offering and Senior Citizen Project.

Monday, October 28, 2013

HSP
would like to thank BensonPrimary
School in Itasca for
holding an extremely generous food drive! Dan Raschk brought the donations, 11
large boxes filled with non-perishables, to our center last Friday. The
donation included many items that we can give to the families in the Christmas
Offering, such as peanut butter and jelly, cans of tuna, and cans of fruit and veggies. Through the Christmas Offering, HSP
provides 150 families with 3-4 weeks of groceries, including fresh fruits and veggies,
frozen meat, bread, and non-perishables. Food drives like these are essential
to HSP’s ability to feed impoverished
families this Christmas.

BensonPrimary School has been a supporter
of HSP for ten years. The school donated to
the Christmas Offering several times in the past and also held toy drive a few
years ago. HSP really appreciates all their
support!

If
you or your organization is interested in holding a food or toy drive for our
Christmas Offering, please visit our website at http://www.humanitarianservice.org/,
email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org, or
call us at 630-221-8340.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Recently HSP has enjoyed having the help of several
service learners from the College
of DuPage around the
center.The students have been helping
us prepare for the upcoming Christmas Offering, organize food and toys in our
warehouse and toy room for our Senior Citizen and Children’s Birthday Projects.In addition to the COD students, we have also
been blessed to have Christina from LibertyUniversity, who has been
volunteering her time at HSP as a part of her college service project.

The
Service Learning Program at COD requires students to dedicate 20 hours of
service at one of their community partners.
The programs aim is to give students the opportunity to apply what
they've been learning in the classroom to real world experiences while helping
others.

We would like to
thank the dedicated students for their contribution to HSP’s mission. Their efforts are going a long way in helping
HSP to make a difference in the lives of needy children and seniors in our own
community!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Today a group of nine students from
MontiniHigh School
gave their time to help HSP prepare for the
upcoming Christmas Offering. The students were participating in the Sophomore
Day of Service at MontiniHigh
School. The sophomore students at the school were
divided into groups and each group served at a different site. HSP
was blessed to be a recipient of this service day.

First, the students constructed the
boxes we use to hold the non-perishables that we give to impoverished families
around Christmas time. Through the Christmas Offering, HSP
gives 150 families 3-4 weeks worth of food, including fresh groceries, frozen
meat, and non-perishables. Next, the students sorted and took inventory of a
bread donation from Pepperidge Farm. This bread will be given to the seniors in
the Senior Citizen Project and the families in the Christmas Offering. Lastly,
the students helped to organize the warehouse and brought toys from the
warehouse to the toy room in preparation for Christmas. The group accomplished
quite a lot in the 2 hours they spent volunteering with us, and HSP
would like to thank them for their all their great work.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Here at HSP, we go the extra mile to help all of our needy
families and seniors, and are committed to providing them with necessities that
no person should go without. Through our
Senior Citizen Project, we supply these necessities, namely groceries and
personal care items, to the 123 seniors enrolled in our program. Specifically regarding the personal care
items, we deliver Personal Care Kits to our seniors every three months.

We are
always in desperate need of personal care and hygienic items, so we are asking
that you help us continue our service of providing seniors with items like
soap, toothpaste, and lotion.

With
our deadline sprinting towards us, we ask that you help us reach our goal of
filling 93 more kits by the end of November!
So, from now until then, please donate any items you can from the list
below:

-2 shampoos

-2 conditioners

-1 lip balm

-1 toothbrush

-1 toothpaste

-2 dental floss

-3 lotions

-6 bar soaps

-2 hand sanitizers

The
collection and quantity of the above items are what we include in our Personal
Care Kits. It is up to you whether you
want to donate a complete kit, or just certain items. But if you do decide to compile a kit, please
feel free to place the items in a basket, shoebox, or gift bag for easier
transport to our needy seniors, and drop the kit off at HSP. And of course, individual items are also
welcome, and can be dropped off at HSP as well.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Yesterday HSP’s Executive Director, Kristin Maxwell, visited
ArmyTrailElementary
School in Addison to meet with their
principal Deb Martello. During that visit, HSP was able to send along school
supplies for the needy children in the school. We were able to provide around
11 boxes of school supplies which included: glue, crayons, binders, art paper,
colored paper, as well as miscellaneous school and extra teacher supplies.

Along with being able to
provide school supplies to the school, we are very happy to report that we will
be enrolling over 80 needy children from ArmyTrailElementary School
into our Children’s Birthday Project (CBP). That is approximately 20 percent of
the needy children in the school! CBP’s goal is to provide children with
packages on their special day, and to create memories for them that will last a
lifetime. Each child receives a birthday box which includes new toys, books,
activity kits, and other small trinkets. They also receive, with their birthday
gifts, school supplies, and a “party in a bag” kit which contains party
decorations and supplies, and birthday cake mix and frosting for the child to
enjoy on their birthday.

ArmyTrailSchool
covers an area near our other Addison school partner,
Lake Park Elementary. Both schools have large populations of needy children, ArmyTrailSchool
at 80.5% low income and Lake Park Elementary at 72.8% low income. HSP is happy
to be able to assist both schools by providing school and birthday supplies to
needy children.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Today, HSP
welcomes a new intern, Pat McGarry! During his internship, Pat will be helping
us prepare for our annual Christmas Offering and contribute to a number of
other projects for the sake of the needy families and seniors we serve. Pat
graduated from St. XavierUniversity
in May 2013 with a degree in Philosophy and a minor in Religious Studies. He
hopes to gain employment at a non-profit or as a teacher. Pat is looking
forward to gaining experience in the non-profit environment through his
internship.

Pat
is no stranger to volunteering and helping others. He has served as chaplain at
a Boy Scout summer camp for scouts in the Chicago
area, planning the religious services and providing counseling to the boys. He
also volunteers with Mount Carmel’s Alumni Club and parents’
clubs, by helping to set up and prepare for events at both clubs. Pat’s other
interests include playing rugby, reading, and watching movies.

We
are very excited to have Pat here at HSP!
Please join us in welcoming him to the team.

Friday, October 18, 2013

HSP
finished this week on a high note with a volunteer group from the US Foods of Rosemont
helping to sort food in the warehouse.
The 17 volunteers spent the afternoon sorting the season’s first boxes
of non-perishables that will be distributed to the needy families and seniors
served through our annual Christmas Offering. The also generously brought a
donation of over 280 containers of cake mix and frosting, 150 hand crafted
birthday cards, and additional party items for the sake of the impoverished
children in our Children’s Birthday Project.

For
the 35th year in a row, HSP will
be providing local, needy families and seniors with groceries through the
Christmas Offering. During the month of
December, more than 14 tons of groceries will be distributed to 150 families
and 123 seniors as part of the Offering.

HSP
is very grateful for the contribution the US Foods volunteers made today. The Christmas Offering is our largest
undertaking of the year that would not be possible without the help of our many
volunteers! If you are interested in
volunteering or would like more information about our Christmas Offering visit
our website at www.humanitarianservice.org or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The
Humanitarian Service Project is very excited to announce that Kristin Maxwell,
our former Assistant Executive Director, has officially been named HSP’s
new Executive Director! Kristin volunteered at HSP
for years before she joined our staff and became the Assistant Executive
Director at the beginning of 2012. She has been running the day-to-day
operations at HSP for some time now. Her
guidance and collaboration with HSP’s
co-founders have enabled HSP to continue to
improve our programs to serve needy families and seniors in DuPage and Kane
counties.

Whether it is the seniors served by
the Senior Citizen Project, or the children and families in our other projects,
Kristin’s hard work and spirit for service have touched the lives of everyone
in our programs. We can think of no one better for the role of Executive
Director, to continue HSP’s work to provide
relief to the neediest in the community. We know that since she has started
working here, Kristin has bonded with many of you, our friends and supporters,
so please join us in congratulating Kristin on her new position!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Today at HSP,
students of the AIM Program at GlenbardNorthHigh School
helped in preparing paper goods for our needy senior citizens. The students worked industriously for two
hours, sorting and bundling toilet paper, paper towels and facial tissue that
will be distributed to our seniors as part of the November and December grocery
deliveries.

AIM,
short for Advancing Into Mainstream, is a new program at GlenbardNorthHigh School. The program is currently working to
incorporate a service based learning program into its curriculum. So far, the students have volunteered at ColonyPark and are partnering with the
local Police Department in hosting a food drive. HSP is
very grateful for the students’ work and looks forward to collaborating with
them again in the future.

The
work these students completed will enable us to make a huge difference in the
lives of our seniors.As always, we are
grateful for the hard work and dedication of our volunteers.If you or your group would like to volunteer
with HSP or would like to learn more about
our programs please visit our website at http://www.humanitarianservice.org/ or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Today at HSP, we had two
volunteer groups from the Young Men’s Service League (YMSL) donating their time.
The Carol Stream Chapter of YMSL sent in 7 volunteers from 9-11 AM and 5 volunteers from 1-3PM
to help us out in sorting a number of things in our warehouse such as food and
paper products for both the Senior Citizen Project and the Christmas Offering. They
also helped out by setting up boxes to be filled with non-perishable food for
our Christmas Offering.

YMSL is a national
organization in which high school boys and their mothers have the opportunity
to support people in need, within their community, by volunteering.

HSP is thankful
for the time that YMSL has given towards helping the families in our programs
today and in the past years. They have been a very prolific group of supporters
for HSP by contributing their time and resources to helping us serve families
and seniors in need.

Monday, October 14, 2013

HSP
would like to thank the Village of Carol
Stream, who graciously held a paper products
drive for our Senior Citizen Project this month. Many village employees
participated in the drive, and the village office also functioned as a drop off
point for paper product donations from community members. Linda Johansen brought
us the generous delivery of donations last Wednesday and dropped off a second
delivery last Saturday. All together, we received 69 boxes of Kleenex, 192
rolls of paper towels, and 379 rolls of toilet paper to give to the needy
seniors in our program on delivery day.

Every
month on delivery day, we bring fresh produce, non-perishables, frozen meat,
bread, a secret pal gift, and two bags of paper products to each senior in our
Senior Citizen Project. The donations from the Village
of Carol Stream’s drive will go
towards these deliveries. Paper product drives are essential to our ability to
supply the seniors with paper products each month.

If
you or your organization is interested in holding a paper products drive for HSP,
please visit our website at http://www/humanitarianservice.org/, email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org,
or call us at 630-221-8340.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Thank you to all the volunteers who
helped out today by sorting produce to be delivered to the needy seniors in our
Senior Citizen Project! We had a very special group of produce sorters this
month. The scheduled group of sorters had to cancel last minute, so we
contacted several HSP supporters and asked
if they could come instead. HSP is so
thankful for the people who graciously volunteered to help out, even though it
was short notice.

The
volunteers sorted fifteen kinds of fruits and vegetables and several kinds of
bread to fill the seniors’ boxes. The produce sorters are essential to our
ability to deliver nutritious food to all of the seniors each month! Tomorrow,
on delivery day, these boxes will be delivered to the seniors along with
non-perishable items, frozen meat, paper products, and a secret pal gift.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Today at HSP
employees from the Joint Commission in Oakbrook Terrace helped us prepare for
our upcoming Christmas Offering by participating in a mailing party. The 3
volunteers worked diligently for much of the afternoon preparing envelopes and
stuffing them with information that will be mailed out to the needy families
being served at Christmas. It certainly
takes a lot of letters for HSP to get in touch with every needy family served
by our Christmas Offering, so we are very thankful to these volunteers for
taking the time out of their day to help us communicate smoothly with all the families.

The Joint
Commission has been a faithful supporter of HSP in the past, hosting food
drives and often volunteering to assist with the preparation for our Christmas
Offering. We are very grateful for their
continued support, especially with the Christmas season quickly approaching!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Attention friends of
HSP! Because of an unforeseen schedule conflict with a volunteer group HSP is
in need of volunteers this Friday, October 11th, to sort fresh
produce and bread to be delivered to the needy seniors we serve. Our monthly
delivery to the 123 impoverished seniors is on Saturday, and in order to
guarantee freshness, HSP will receive and sort the produce on the day before.
So, if you are interested in lending a hand for the sake of these seniors, and
are free from 10:30am to 1:30 pm on Friday, please call HSP at
630-221-8340 or email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org
to sign up.

Included
in the 100 lb. delivery that HSP provides the 123 seniors we serve each month
are six bags of non-perishables, two bags of paper products, seven selections
of frozen meats, 3-4 loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread, and 15 varieties of fresh
fruits and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables we provide in these deliveries
are a major source of nutrition for the seniors, who otherwise have no access
to the foods they need for a healthy diet. Please let HSP know if you would be
willing to volunteer to help us provide this live-altering relief to the
seniors of our communities.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Yesterday,
HSP received a donation from a group charity quilting/sewing circle from the business
of Fabrics Etc. They donated about thirty quilts, blankets and afghans for
needy children and seniors making it the first time they worked with HSP. According
to a professional quilter and leader of the group, Anne Christopher, this relatively
new group has come together with a lot of people from different walks of life
for a common goal: to make and distribute blankets to people in need throughout
the area.

With the summer weather gone,
these items will be very beneficial in bringing some cold-weather relief to
needy children and seniors in our programs this fall and winter. HSP is excited
to have received this donation of quilts, blankets, and afghans as well as to
have partnered with this group through this donation.

HSP would like to thank Anne
and the rest of the quilters and sewers for their gracious donation.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Today HSP
received a wonderful donation of food from Divine Savior Parish. The church,
located in Downers Grove, collects food every month to
donate to the needy in the community. HSP is
a recipient of their generous food drives every other month.

This month, the donated food completely filled the car of
HSP volunteer and Divine Savior member Rich
Patera. The food we received this month will be used in our monthly grocery
deliveries to needy seniors in the Senior Citizen Project. All 123 seniors in
the program receive over 100 lbs of groceries each month, including
non-perishables, fruits, vegetables, meat, and bread. Food from this month’s
donation will also be given to the impoverished families in the Christmas
Offering this December. Food drives like these are essential to the success of
both the Senior Citizen Project and the Christmas Offering.

Divine
Savior has been one of our biggest supporters for decades! Their consistent donations
and continued support have been a huge blessing to all the needy seniors and
families that we serve. If you are interested in holding a food drive for HSP,
please give us a call at 630-221-8340 or follow the link to view the food drive
flyer on our website: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/fooddrive.html

Friday, October 4, 2013

Today HSP
received help in our warehouse from the enthusiastic students of Mrs. Heggen’s
class at GlenbardSouthHigh School. The students worked diligently for two hours
sorting and boxing non-perishables for our Christmas Project Program. These fantastic volunteers have become
regular helpers at HSP and we are thankful
for their continued support. The amazing
job they did today will go a long way in making a difference in the lives of
our seniors!

The
students are a part of a transitional program housed at GlenbardSouthHigh School
that aims to teach them vocational, as well as everyday skills through daily,
real-world experiences. As part of the
program, Mrs. Heggen regularly incorporates community service based learning
opportunities into her curriculum to teach the students basic skills while
making a difference in the community.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Yesterday, HSP
delivered more birthday boxes to impoverished children at LakeParkElementary School
in Addison. HSP has
partnered with Lake Park Elementary to reach the school’s neediest children for
a year and a half now. Many of the school’s students live in families who
suffer from extreme poverty; about 90% of the students at LakePark qualify to receive subsidized
lunches. HSP is happy to help these very
deserving children by providing them with birthday boxes through the Children’s
Birthday Project.

Our faithful volunteer, Jeff Marker, delivered the 12
boxes to the school for the students who had October birthdays. Each box was
filled with 6-10 toys and games, 6 books, school supplies, stuffed animals, and
party supplies. The boxes give these needy children gifts that they might not
otherwise receive and make their birthdays special and memorable.

HSP
like to thank Jeff for volunteering to drive to LakePark, and all our volunteers and
donors who have made it possible for us to reach these wonderful children.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

On Monday, HSP
received a very generous donation from our friends at St.FrancisHigh School
in Wheaton. They hosted a school supply drive, collecting
greatly needed school products including notebooks, pens, highlighter, binders
and much more.

The drive was a
competition between homerooms to see which one could collect the most
supplies. The winning room was awarded a
uniform free day! The students and
teachers at St. Francis took to this friendly competition with enthusiasm
collecting an amazing 15 large boxes full of supplies for needy kids.

HSP
is extremely grateful for the continued support of St.FrancisHigh School. They have partnered with us many times in the
past hosting food, paper and school supply drives for our various
programs. We are so thankful for their
most recent contribution, it will go very far in serving impoverished children
and schools in our area.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

At HSP, we
are committed to providing the 123 needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project
with the items that they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Included in
these kits are hygiene products which we provide to them every three months. We
were able to present each of our seniors, in September, with a personal care
kit containing these products.

Now, we are asking for YOUR HELP in putting together more
Personal Care Kits!

We need over 100 of these kits within the next
two months to be able to carry out our goal of providing our seniors with kits
on December 6th.

Items to include in the Personal Care Kits:

-2 Shampoos

-2 Conditioners

-1 lip balm

-1 toothpaste

-1 toothbrush

-2 dental floss

-3 lotions

-6 bar soaps

-2 hand sanitizers

All items on this list would complete one Personal Care Kit,
or you may choose to donate only a few items. If you choose to put together a
care kit, you may do so by putting it together in a basket, shoebox, or gift
bag and dropping it off at HSP to be delivered to a needy senior.

If you would like more information on putting together a
care kit or donating items, please give us a call at (630) 221-8340 or visit
our webpage at www.humanitarianservice.org.

Get Involved

About HSP

It is the mission of the Humanitarian Service Project to alleviate the pain and suffering that poverty brings to seniors and children in DuPage and Kane Counties, Illinois, without discrimination or exclusion for any reason.